1993 Error on Front Page

[cf-62]

Guys,

We didn't beat LSU in 1993. CAL did. Dale Brown made his infamous statement in the postgame Cal / LSU conference. Duke beat Southern Illinois (the Salukis) if my memory serves me correctly. I think we tied the NCAA record for most threes in a tournament game (14?). Then went cold against Cal.

[Billy Dat]

Kidd executed one of the nastiest in-the-lane crossovers in the last 5 minutes of this game that I have ever seen. His body was literally horizontal as he changed directions and went in for the lay-up.

[Chicago 1995]

Guys,

We didn't beat LSU in 1993. CAL did. Dale Brown made his infamous statement in the postgame Cal / LSU conference. Duke beat Southern Illinois (the Salukis) if my memory serves me correctly. I think we tied the NCAA record for most threes in a tournament game (14?). Then went cold against Cal.

Lamond Murray had a huge game for Cal, IIRC. Grant struggled that night and Hurley couldn't carry us by himself past both Kidd and Murray.

I was at that game, and the drive home from the Rosemont Horizon was long and cold. Snowy March Saturday in Illinois.

[MarkD83]

I was living in Baton Rouge and had tickets to the Final Four. Since Duke went to the final four 5 years in a row (and of course in hindsight 1994), I thought for sure it would be a good time to get tickets for the New Orleans Final Four....

Instead I had to endure UNC winning and the rest of the Final Four being Kansas with Roy spitting into the Mississippi river, Michigan and Kentucky......

At least my son was born in 1993 so the year was not a complete disaster.

[Olympic Fan]

Lamond Murray had a huge game for Cal, IIRC. Grant struggled that night and Hurley couldn't carry us by himself past both Kidd and Murray.

I was at that game, and the drive home from the Rosemont Horizon was long and cold. Snowy March Saturday in Illinois.

I think your memory is a bit off ... Hurley did have a 32-point game (a so-so 6-18 on 3pointers) and 9 assists, but Grant -- who had only recently returned after missing a month with a high ankle sprain, was fairly sharp -- 18 points (exactly on his season average), 7 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and eight (!) steals. He was 8-of-15 from the floor and 2-3 from 3-point range.

The real killer for Duke that afternoon was injury Cherokee Parks suffered in the first half. He went down after playing a mere 14 minutes and didn't return in the second half. Eric Meek, who had played little that season, came off the bench and played 20 minutes with four points (all from the foul line) and five rebounds. It also hurt that Antonio Lang played 30 minutes without scoring a point ... he did have seven rebounds. Thomas Hill, one of the team's big three scorers, also had a bad game -- 14 points on 4 of 14 shooting.

Even with all that, Duke still would have won the game if they could have come up with a loose ball under the Cal basket in the final seconds. Instead, Kidd won the scramble and scored to put Cal on top. It was a heartbreaking game.

BTW -- The Rosemont Horizon, which always looked good on TV, proved to be one of the biggest dumps I've ever seen as far as a fairly modern facility. I'd rank it the second-worst behind the Dome in St. Pete as far as the worst places Duke has had to play over the years.

[Henderson]

We didn't beat LSU in 1993.

But we did beat LSU in '91 and '92 in a home-and-home. Laettner clearly outplayed Shaq in '91 in Durham, then outplayed him again at LSU in '92. Although Shaq scored three more points than Laettner in '92, he couldn't make his foul shots down the stretch. I think LSU went something like 11 for 21 from the line in that game, and Duke 13 for 15. After the game, Dale Brown pointed to his team's failure at the line (implicitly calling out Shaq) as the key to the LSU loss. I think we beat them by 10, despite Bobby Hurley being out with a -- wait for it -- foot injury.

Then that spring, Chuck Daly -- head coach of the original "Dream Team" -- chose Laettner over Shaq for the '92 Olympic team, and Shaq whined about it long afterward. But it was a good move. Laettner was hot (back to back nattys), and Shaq's struggles from the line would have made him a liability. Plus the team already had Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, and Karl Malone.

Ever since, the fact that Laettner outplayed Shaq and was chosen for the Olympic team over him has been a source of satisfaction to me.

[sagegrouse]

Then that spring, Chuck Daly -- head coach of the original "Dream Team" -- chose Laettner over Shaq for the '92 Olympic team, and Shaq whined about it long afterward. But it was a good move. Laettner was hot (back to back nattys), and Shaq's struggles from the line would have made him a liability. Plus the team already had Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, and Karl Malone.

Ever since, the fact that Laettner outplayed Shaq and was chosen for the Olympic team over him has been a source of satisfaction to me.

My memory is a bit different -- then, of course, my memory of past events changes every day. There was a general consensus that the Dream Team would take one college player, and, obviously, the most outstanding player. In 1991, the awards were divided between Shaquille and Larry Johnson. In 1992, the year of the Olympics, Christian won all six NPOY awards (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._men's_college_basketball_national_pla yer_of_the_year_awards). End of story. Does everybody get that? Please ignore the complication that Chuck Daly had been an assistant at Duke in the Bubas era.

sagegrouse

[Henderson]

My memory is a bit different -- then, of course, my memory of past events changes every day. There was a general consensus that the Dream Team would take one college player, and, obviously, the most outstanding player. In 1991, the awards were divided between Shaquille and Larry Johnson. In 1992, the year of the Olympics, Christian won all six NPOY awards (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._men's_college_basketball_national_pla yer_of_the_year_awards). End of story. Does everybody get that? Please ignore the complication that Chuck Daly had been an assistant at Duke in the Bubas era.

No, your memory is good and consistent with mine. Although the coaches were picking the college player who would best help the team rather than handing out a reward to the best college player, there was a reason Laettner was a consensus POTY and Shaq was not. And it turned out well for the Dream Team. Laettner played reasonably well in his limited minutes, including shooting 33% from three and 90% from the line. Shaq would not have fit that role.

BTW, not only did Daly have a distant Duke connection, K was an assistant on that 92 team. But Laettner was objectively the better pick.